England beat India by seven wickets as they completed a record run chase to win the Covid-delayed fifth Test at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
England, set 378 to win, finished on 378/3 with Joe Root 142 not out and Jonny Bairstow 114 not out.
The Yorkshire team-mates shared an unbroken stand of 269, with Bairstow the first England batsman since Andrew Strauss against India at Chennai in 2008 to score two hundreds in the same Test after he made 106 in the first innings at Edgbaston.
Victory saw England square the five-match series 2-2.
Edgbaston Test: Root, Bairstow power England to 7-wicket win against India, series ends 2-2
No England side had previously made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test than their 359-9 against Australia at Headingley three years ago.
This decider should have been played in Manchester last September only to be postponed just hours before the start because of coronavirus concerns within the India camp.
Here are reactions to the match:
An astonishing chase. An unforgettable win 👏
— The Field (@thefield_in) July 5, 2022
📹: England Cricketpic.twitter.com/D4XHB17lzO
Special win by England to level the series.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 5, 2022
Joe Root & Jonny Bairstow have been in sublime form and made batting look very easy.
Congratulations to England on a convincing victory. @Bazmccullum #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/PKAdWVLGJo
Just incredible @englandcricket 🔥🔥#ENGvIND
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) July 5, 2022
This victory of team England should hurt Team India. That was too easy… #INDvENG
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) July 5, 2022
Congratulations England on your highest successful run chase.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) July 5, 2022
India have quite a few issues to address,only Pujara & Pant from the top 6 scoring runs and Jadeja batting brilliantly, but need batsman to be in form. Bowling in the fourth innings was absolutely listless #INDvsENG
Ain’t no score safe defending in the last innings of a test match! #ENGvIND
— Shikha Pandey (@shikhashauny) July 5, 2022
Unbelievable soo to goood to watch Johnny Jonny Yess Papa 😍 @jbairstow21 . #INDvsENG #testcricket
— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) July 5, 2022
Major blow to India. In some ways a debacle. After taking 132 runs lead, there looked only one likely winner. India blew their chance on the fourth day by not batting long enough. Time was crucial. Stretching the innings by 2.5-3 hours just may have put it beyond England
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) July 5, 2022
India's last three overseas Tests
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) July 5, 2022
Edgbaston - lost by 7 wickets
Cape Town - lost by 7 wickets
Jo'burg - lost by 7 wickets
More than being unable to defend 378, 212 & 240...couldn't come close to defending it.#ENGvIND
Congratulations @englandcricket on win against Team India in the last test. A huge partnership between @root66 and @jbairstow21. 🙌 Great efforts and team work put in by the Indian team, well played boys! 🇮🇳#ENGvIND
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) July 5, 2022
Absolutely incredible @englandcricket!! Brilliant to watch!! Well done @WarwickshireCCC on hosting another incredible Test match!! 🦁😍
— Ian Bell (@Ian_Bell) July 5, 2022
They’ve just made breaking that record look ridiculously easy 🤯🤯
— Kate Cross (@katecross16) July 5, 2022
That’s an unbelievable run-chase. Well done, England. Series Drawn.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) July 5, 2022
But the last couple of Tests in SA also come to mind…they managed run-chases without much fuss in both Tests…
Sessions won:
— Snehal Pradhan (@SnehalPradhan) July 5, 2022
India 7
England 5.
This hurts. Well played England. India were better for longer, but England were better in the critical second half of the Test.
Spare a thought for Pant. Makes two of the finest hundreds by an Indian batsman (Cape Town and here) and team loses both tests by 7 wickets
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) July 5, 2022
For all chatter of England’s batting approach and India’s bowling in 4th innings, the game turned with India’s poor second innings. 245 all out isn’t good enough with a handy lead. Needed to bat England out of the game, instead left five+ sessions to chase. #EngvInd
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) July 5, 2022
Highest successful fourth innings run chases for England in Tests:
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) July 5, 2022
378-3 vs IND, Birmingham 2022
362-9 vs AUS, Leeds 2019
332-7 vs AUS, Melbourne 1928
315-4 vs AUS, Leeds 2001
307-6 vs NZ, Christchurch 1997
299-5 vs NZ, Nottingham 2022#ENGvIND
Jonny Bairstow's last 5 Test innings:
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) July 5, 2022
114* off 145 balls
106 off 140 balls
71* off 44 balls
162 off 157 balls
136 off 92 balls#Cricket #ENGvsIND
269* - @root66 & @jbairstow21 have registered the highest ever 4th wicket partnership in the 4th innings of a men's Test match, it is also @englandcricket's 5th highest 4th wicket stand in any innings. Unbreakable. pic.twitter.com/ZgQX4gtuCZ
— OptaJim (@OptaJim) July 5, 2022
Highest partnership for 3rd or lower wicket while chasing in Tests:
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) July 5, 2022
269* - J Bairstow & J Root🏴 v IND, 2022 (so far)
251 - C Serjeant & G Wood🇦🇺 v WI, 1978
242 - S Masood & Y Khan🇵🇰 v SL, 2015
238 - A Gilchrist & J Langer🇦🇺 v PAK, 1999#ENGvIND
Utterly superb victory for @englandcricket. Love this wonderfully positive approach. Great for the game.
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) July 5, 2022
Anyone else just staring at the TV saying ‘this is ridiculous’ over and over again? #ENGvsIND
— Greg James (@gregjames) July 5, 2022
#ENGvIND
— Samreen (@SamreenRazz) July 5, 2022
Unbelievable how everything went awry for India in the last two days. No Kohli to even say that we will learn from mistakes and come back. Hopefully, some precise analysis of what went wrong from Dravid.
Alarming that India's bowling couldn't pose a bigger challenge. But before that discussion, I think right now, it must be all about England's batting and chasing in the last few weeks. To do it four matches in a row is just astonishing.
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) July 5, 2022
Joe Root is in a zone most batters can’t even picture being in. Absolute mastery of his craft.#ENGvIND #EdgbastonTest
— Aditya Chaturvedi (@aditya_c19) July 5, 2022
Inputs from AFP
